A service provider center is a service company which provides operator-assisted voice services. A service provider center can be comparable to a telephone or call center in which a group of specific employees or “agents” handle telephone inquiries. Typical areas of use are mail-order companies, insurance companies and customer service and also customer hot lines.
In typical service center operations, service providers (also referred to as agents or contact center agents) are primarily engaged in handling incoming calls from persons seeking services provided by the service or contact center. This is not, however, the only task agents handle. In many instances, there is a need for agents to make outgoing calls. An agent, for example, in interaction with a calling party, may need to research some item of information, then place a call back to the original caller. In other instances, the primary function of the call center may be agent-initiated calls. Calls made from the center can include fraud/loss prevention, telemarketing, sales or fund-raising calls, as well as calls for contact list updating, surveys or verification services, etc. In any case, there are often reasons for agents taking part in calls originated at the contact center, in addition to their other duties. A contact center which also deals with outgoing traffic becomes a sales instrument that can actively conduct telephone marketing and can also gain new customers, or provide other services related to new or existing customers.
In the operation of contact centers where communications are initiated from the contact center, it is known to make calls by an automatic outbound dialing system, where calls placed by the dialing system are answered by clients and then transferred quickly to available agents. Typically, the outbound communications are matched based only on availability of agents, which may not be ideal for either the contacted person or the agent. Accordingly, a need exists for better ways to pair an outbound communication or task between service provider and customer.